Is It Blight?

[davefromthechipie]

We get blight here every bloody year only good thing its mostly at the end of the tom growing season. Oo Well i never ...a Blight checker kit Thanks for that

[Duronal]

This site is very useful when trying to diagnose tomato problems.

Tomato leaf symptoms Diagnostic Key

[tattieman]

If you watch my video above you can see the kit in action.

[gardening in mind]

this might be of interest...Found this on test in which? gardening mag for june,its called blight pocket check £6.95 for two single use kits. Apparently you tear a small piece of leaf you think is infected add liquid stuff to it,shake then add drops to the kit, within minutes you get a pos/neg result.

[Storming Norman]

Hi Daphne,

I found these spots on my container pots recently and had a panic as well, but it was not blight - there was no progression, and so I just removed some leaves and gave them a feed.

It's watering in hot sun damage I think - my mistake. It's been so warm here I have had to water far more than usual and often find them flagging and water at the wrong time of day.

This is a great thread. I've not had blight before and the guys at the new allotment tell me they rarely see blight either, so I am a complete novice on this one - really helpful thanks Sarah.

Ann

[SarzWix]

I don't think you can speed up the potatoes, they take how long they take. But you can remove the affected foliage and spray the plants with Bordeaux mixture (considered organic) or Dithane 945 (not) to try and hold the blight off for a little while. Make sure that if you have to water the potatoes, you don't get the foliage wet. And keep a really close eye on all the plants (twice daily inspections if you possibly can) & take off any more spotty leaves as soon as you see them. Keep spraying at the intervals recommended on the packaging.
Good luck!

[Daphne1411]

Thanks for the advice zazen999, my brownish spots resemble more like cigarette burns-no I don't smoke! I'm desperate to know how to get some tatties growing quick in case its the dreaded lergy.....

[zazen999]

Hi Daphne. I've merged your query with our Blight thread. Have a look and see if your leaves match anything above.

[Daphne1411]

Potato Blight

I've searched the internet wide and far for information and pics on this dastardly disease (saw the pics posted on here too). My potato plants have what look like some scorch marks, small round brown spots. I've taken the offending leaves off but I am very paranoid its blight. This is my first time growing tatties and they all came up great, loads of them-in containers and the ground. My question is this; if its blight I know what to do but my plants have flowers about to open. Is there anything I can do to hurry up the tuber growing process in case I need to take all the leaves off in a hurry? I'd hate to lose everything.
Also, my tomatoes are ready to go out. What can I do about these? I don't want to risk losing these as well. I live in SE3 London in case its Blight and spreading.....
Growing veges is not as easy as it seems.......

[Rocketron]

I got a shock when I was in the garden last night and came across this poorly looking plant. I quickly snapped the leaves off and rushed home to make a video on how to test for blight. I have put the video on youtube for you all. YouTube - How to test for BLIGHT

Thanks very much, Tattieman.

[SarzWix]

If your chemist doesn't have any Epsom Salts, some garden centres have started stocking it too. If it's only mild symptoms then a decent tomato feed often contains magnesium too.

Glad the thread is proving useful

Tattieman, thank you for the video link, very useful as usual

[Flummery]

Teamlad, Epsom Salts (from the chemist) in a weak solution watered on will sort the problem.

[teamladd]

Some thing cause symptoms which look similar to blight, especially on tomato plants and can cause confusion. These include; botrytis (grey mould), wind burn, sun scorch, magnesium deficiency, blossom-end rot and frost damage.

Botrytis is usually caused by poor greenhouse ventilation, coupled with plant overcrowding. If it takes hold in the greenhouse, it can be almost as devastating as blight, so it's worth keeping an eye out for. Good airflow and hygiene can help to keep it away - remove any affected leaves staright away, and take them out of the greenhouse, don't be tempted to just chuck them on the floor!


Magnesium deficiency is quite common in tomatoes, and is relatively easy to fix - Epsom Salts, either watered in, or sprayed on the foliage will perk the plants up pretty quickly. But if not corrected can make the plants look scarily poorly!


I haven't found any decent pictures of weather damage yet... I have some tomatoes that have been well scorched (shade netting slipped, oops!) so I'll try and get pics of those, but, if anyone else can contribute for the frost damage/wind burn pics, that'd be fab!

Ahhh, I think I have Magnesium deficiency. Where can I get what I need to fix them? Thanks for post!

[tattieman]

I got a shock when I was in the garden last night and came across this poorly looking plant. I quickly snapped the leaves off and rushed home to make a video on how to test for blight. I have put the video on youtube for you all. YouTube - How to test for BLIGHT

[sweetiepea]

I was checking my toms last night and thought I might have blight but now it looks like sun damage. Phew, what a relief! Thanks Sarzwix, this thread is great!